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April 21, 2011

Letter to the editor

Anonymous The Chronicle The Zope Gazette Thu Apr 21, 2011, 12:22 PM CDT

Pella — To the editor,

I want to make one clarification on the article in the Pella Chronicle on April 14.

When Roger was talking about the number of trucks, he said that the grain facility will generate 5,700 truck units per year. You have to realize that the Iowa DOT requires the county to report traffic in “single axle, 18,000 pound units”. A single axle, 18,000 pound unit equals 321 bushel units. (18,000 divided by 56 lbs. per bushel for corn). All county engineers must convert agricultural traffic counts to this old, outdated number. When we talk about semis, one semi equals between 3 and 4 single axle truck units. If we take the 5,700 units that he stated and divide it by 4 (each semi hauling 1,000 bushel) we come up with 1,425 semi units. This is very close to the 1,200 semi units we have been talking about.

I am afraid that some people will not understand this when they read the article. I think they may think we are talking about 5,700 individual trucks. Even the wagons that farmers use to haul grain to the elevator will equal between 2 and 3 and as much as 4 “single axle unit”.

Craig Hetland

Tracy Location Manager

To the editor,

As we recover from the recession, giving our kids the best education possible is important. That’s the only way our children and our communities can compete for the jobs of the future.

Now is certainly NOT the time to cut off any new state support for our local schools. We won’t help students learn by firing teachers, making classes more crowded, and eliminating courses.

Education leaders say a two percent increase is what’s needed. That would cost roughly $65 million.

Thanks to Iowa’s growing economy, we can afford it. The state’s reserve funds are full at $600 million. Moreover, an additional $300 million is expected to be left over at the end of this fiscal year.

Now it’s time for Legislative Republicans and Governor Branstad to stand up for Iowa’s public schools. Locking schools into a two-year starvation budget hurts Iowa students and will hurt the Iowa economy.

The schools most Iowans attended, the schools most of our children and grandchildren currently attend, are in deep trouble. If you are worried about our local schools, please contact your Republican legislators and Governor Branstad as soon as possible.

Senator Brian Schoenjahn

Chair of the Senate Education Budget Subcommittee

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